Hi -   

I'm in charge of andrewtobias.com, a site hosting a daily column, and
need to add a RSS feed to the site. The site does not use any of the
standard blogging tools for content managements but a custom system
(one that enables the author to submit future columns for automatic
publication on specified dates). I therefore need to handcode the
building of the RSS page into the existing content management tool. I
need to know the exact format of the RSS page I need to build.

The site usually has a headline, sometimes a sub headline, a dateline
and the body of the day's column. Pretty simple.

How would I translate this into a RSS feed? 

How many columns' headlines would I include in the RSS feed? Just the
current headline? Or also past ones? If so, how many past ones?

Should they link to a permanent URL where the column will be archived,
or to www.andrewtobias.com even though the current column will be
replaced by a new one the following day on that page?

What else do I need to keep in mind?

Thank you.

Marc.

marcfest-ga:

Thanks for your Question! RSS feeds are very useful for monitoring
websites where the content is constantly updating. AndrewTobias.com
looks like a prime candidate for this.

To start, first it is a good idea to review what an RSS feed is,
exactly. Here are some good explanations:

What is RSS?
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html

RSS: Your Gateway To News & Blog Content
http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/article.php/2175281

Introduction to RSS
http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/rss/intro/


The important thing to note is that there are several different RSS
specifications in use. For the greatest level of support (by RSS-aware
newsreader applications, etc.), stick with RSS 0.91 / RSS 2.0, it has
the simplest requirements and is very suited to your needs.


Good instructions on how to create an RSS feed can be found on the
WebReference.com websites:


http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/rss/

(see Tutorials section)


The most direct route to take, though, is to simply use an online tool
to generate an RSS file using your current desired links, take a look
at the XML output, then figure out how to hardcode the necessary (ie.
non-dynamic) parts into your current content management tool.

A good tool to use for this is the RSS Headliner found at
WebDevTips.com. Prior to using it, check out their article:

http://www.webdevtips.com/webdevtips/developer/rss/index.shtml

Then, check out the tool:

http://www.webdevtips.com/webdevtips/codegen/rss.shtml

As per the advice in the article, you should post the RSS feed file on
your website, then use an online code-validation tool to make sure
your online RSS feed works:

http://feeds.archive.org/validator/


You asked whether the links in the RSS feed should point to a
permanent URL, or to the AndrewTobias.com site. Since RSS feeds are
considered dynamic content, and are queried each time a user wants to
see it, you do not need to maintain any historic links. What this
means is that, if you have an RSS feed that specifies today's
headlines from the AndrewTobias.com website, that file should only be
available for as long as the linked articles themselves are available.
As soon as you update the AndrewTobias.com website, you should
simultaneously update the RSS feed to link to the new articles.

Now, some webmasters choose to use the full capacity of an RSS feed
(technically 15 links) to include links to recently archived articles;
if you choose to do the same, such as for example listing a week's
worth of headlines (1-2 per day) in the RSS feed, then the URL for
each of those articles should be one that is valid for as long as the
headline link appears in the RSS feed. In all cases, though, readers
expect that RSS feeds are updated regularly with the latest headlines,
so best to keep it short and simple. In your case, since the
AndrewTobias.com homepage already provides links to the past six
columns (as well as the current one), you will probably want to
include at least the current headline, as well as the past two or
three. Please do not make your RSS feed too long, remember that the
point of an RSS feed is to help your users keep current on the latest
developments without requiring them to necessarily visit your site
each and every day to check for the latest headline.

Also, resist the urge to include anything else besides the headlines
in the feed. So, no links to 'books', 'bio', or other sections of the
site. Since RSS stands for 'Really Simple Syndication', you want to
keep it really simple and to the point. That point being the headlines
of the day.

One challenge you may encounter, is coming up with a way to generate
the description for each link. At a minimum, you have the title for
each column. Many syndicators simply include the first line or so from
their article as a teaser to the content. Other syndicators go to the
trouble of writing a short, pithy summary (10-15 words). Since you
will be manually creating the RSS feed through your content management
tool, you will want to give some thought to how to best use the
description field in the feed. I suggest using your dateline and your
sub-headline as the description.

As an example, here is what your current RSS file can look like:

==============================================
(this would be saved as, for example, http://www.andrewtobias.com/andrewtobias.rss)



<?xml version="1.0" ?> 
<rss version="2.0">

<channel>

<title>Andrew Tobias</title>
<description>Money and Other Subjects - Columns by the financial guru</description>
<link>http://www.andrewtobias.com</link>
<language>en-us</language> 

<item>
<title>Transcripts</title>
<description>Published on March 25, 2004</description>
<link>http://www.andrewtobias.com/newcolumns/040325.html</link>
</item>

<item>
<title>Two Thousand Bottles of Beer on the Wall</title>
<description>Published on March 24, 2004 - Andrew Tobias' two
thousandth column!</description>
<link>http://www.andrewtobias.com/newcolumns/040324.html</link>
</item>

<item>
<title>Selling Some TIPS</title>
<description>Published on March 23, 2004 - At 132 or so, up from 99
when we first started discussing them in this space (plus interest and
inflation), I?m selling a third of my 30-year Treasury Inflation
Protected Securities ,,,</description>
<link>http://www.andrewtobias.com/newcolumns/040323.html</link>
</item>

<item>
<title>Ignoring the Threat</title>
<description>Published on March 22, 2004 - Don?t take Paul O?Neill?s
word for it.  He was just the President?s Treasury Secretary.  His
experience of the Bush Administration is ...</description>
<link>http://www.andrewtobias.com/newcolumns/040322.html</link>
</item>

</channel>

</rss>


==============================================

Now, anyone who has configured their RSS application to grab
http://www.andrewtobias.com/andrewtobias.rss will see four headlines
appear/scroll in their application. Any webmaster who chooses to
syndicate with you to dynamically display your RSS feed on their
webpage, can count on there being the four most recent columns linked
in the feed. Your responsibility will be to update this file every
day, by removing the last <item></item> group, and adding a new one
(for the new column) at the top (after the </language> tag).

For more examples of how others are using and formatting their RSS
feeds, please check out the links that I provided in a previous
related Answer:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=309520

Specifically, once you have your feed up and running, you will want to
submit it to some of the online RSS directories to aid in getting the
word out. A prime one for this is Syndic8.com:

http://www.syndic8.com/

I hope that this helps you with your task. Please let me know if there
is any part of this Answer that you would like clarified before you
rate and accept it. You can use the "Request Clarification" button
above for this purpose.

Best regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

---

Request for Answer Clarification by marcfest-ga on 28 Mar 2004 18:29 PST

One question: in the rss sample you created for me, in the items, you
sometimes just use the date inside the description, and sometimes the
date plus the beginning sentence of the column. Is that intentional?
What should I do?

---

Clarification of Answer by aht-ga on 28 Mar 2004 21:40 PST

The contents in the description field are completely up to you. In the
example, I could not find a useful sentence snippet in the Transcripts
column (the 25th), so I only used the date. In the others, I used the
date and the first sentence snippet.

One important thing I just noticed:

The Google Answers interface has removed a very important part of each
'link' tag, namely the closing tag! After each of the links, you
should see a tag that says:

 < / l i n k >      (I've added spaces here so it doesn't get stripped)


Sorry that I didn't notice this previously.

Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

---

Request for Answer Clarification by marcfest-ga on 31 Mar 2004 04:41 PST

One last, general question: many RSS feeds only include the title and
a snipped (the first few lines) of the new content that's on the page,
in this case this would mean the first few lines of the column, which
is what you suggest to do.

Wouldn't it make sense to include the entire text of the column so
that feedreaders can display it if the user chooses to, saving the
user from having to click a link to go to www.andrewtobias.com ?

If I wanted to include the full text in the feed, is there a tag that
I would use for it to set it apart from the snippet that would be
displayed as the description or summary? Should I choose this
approach?

Thank you.

---

Clarification of Answer by aht-ga on 31 Mar 2004 08:09 PST

The <description> tag is really the only taga available for this sort
of purpose, and including the full text of the column in there would
not be 'proper' use of an RSS feed. The general idea behind RSS is to
give the subscriber enough of a taste of the article so that they can
determine if they want to click through. It is not meant to replace
the actual article on a webpage.

For most subscribers to RSS feeds, brevity is most definitely equal to
godliness. They tend to configure their newsreaders to display no more
than 3 headlines per site, for as many sites as possible, then scroll
those headlines like mad. If you were to include the full text of the
articles in the feed, besides increasing the download time for the
feeds (another no-no), you would be increasing the required viewing
time for the subscribers. This will most likely result in the
subscribers dropping the feed very quickly, as otherwise you would be
forcing them to sit through the whole article before their next
headline appears in their newsreader.

The secret in RSS success is therefore brevity and creativity in
writing the teaser description; this will drive subscribers to visit
your site for the full article.

Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

---

Request for Answer Clarification by marcfest-ga on 31 Mar 2004 11:06 PST

Thx a lot. Found your information very helpful.

---

Clarification of Answer by aht-ga on 31 Mar 2004 11:47 PST

Good luck with the RSS feed!

Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

Excellent reply. Very helpful.